The present invention relates generally to earth compacting equipment and more particularly to a tool for compacting backfilled trenches and related tasks.
Commonly used today for the insertion of buried conduit, both electrical and fluid, are vibratory blades normally having a trailed conduit shoe or guide progressively depositing the conduit within the blade formed kerf. Standard cable laying practice includes the depositing of fines over the deposited conduit which it has been found highly desirable to compact prior to placement of a second conduit thereover. The same is true for conduit laid in a trench formed by a digging operation which trench, of course, is of substantially greater width than the plow formed kerf. A common objective in both modes of conduit placement is the return of the soil to its original, highly compacted state to better protect the buried conduit and to avoid later sinking of the backfilled material. To accomplish compacting presently, manually held vibratory compactors are used to tamp both trench deposited fines and backfill earthen material. Such hand held compacting equipment is slow as compared with mechanized compactors and, of course, requires additional man hours and costly equipment for a conduit laying operation. Such compactors are often air powered requiring the use of a costly air compressor at the job site.
A related problem occurs in the laying of conduit across roadways and driveways where the backfill material is subject to severe loading by reason of passing vehicles. If such material is not adequately compacted before repaving, premature pavement failure can occur, resulting in costly repaving. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to fully compact backfill material for several inches immediately below a paved roadway. Soil compactors associated with road construction are clearly not suitable for trench compaction by reason of size and mode of operation.